Written Answers Friday 18 February 2005

Scottish Executive

Dentistry

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reverse its decision to allow the Chief Dental Officer (CDO) to undertake his post on a part-time basis at a time of pressures on dental services and what steps have been taken to ensure that the duties previously covered by this full-time post continue to be carried out.

Rhona Brankin: No, the Executive does not intend to reverse its decision about the working arrangements of the CDO. The CDO will continue to play a lead role within the Executive in reforming NHS dentistry in Scotland. The work which he will undertake one day a week with NHS Education for Scotland is a vital part of securing the additional workforce needed to deliver the improvements to dental services. All of the duties of the CDO post will continue to be covered by the CDO himself, his deputy and the teams within the Executive which work with him.

Environment

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action local authorities can take to require drivers to switch off vehicle engines when parked.

Lewis Macdonald: The Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) (Fixed Penalty) (Scotland) Regulations 2003 enable local authorities to issue fixed penalty notices to drivers who allow their vehicle engines to run unnecessarily while parked.

Environment

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities have a duty under the Environment Act 1995 to prevent the emission of air pollutants from parked vehicles.

Lewis Macdonald: Section 87 of the Environment Act 1995 allows the Scottish Ministers to make regulations conferring powers on local authorities for, or in connection with, implementing the Air Quality Strategy.

  The regulations referred to in the answer to S2W-14036, answered on 18 February 2005, are made under this section, but implementation is optional. It is for individual authorities to decide, based on their particular circumstances, whether the powers would help to improve air quality in their areas.

Environment

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of environmental pollution caused by organophosphate sheep dip have occurred in each year since 1999.

Ross Finnie: The investigation and collation of information of incidents of environmental pollution is an operational matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The information is not held centrally.

Scottish Water

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Scottish Water regarding the provision of appropriate water and sewage infrastructure for new-build housing.

Lewis Macdonald: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-13645 answered on 1 February 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions can be found on the Parliaments website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Smoking

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of funding currently allocated for smoking cessation services is ring-fenced for cessation services tailored specifically for pregnant women.

Rhona Brankin: Funding for smoking cessation services is not currently ring fenced for specific priority groups such as pregnant women.

Smoking

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the additional £4 million allocated for the provision of smoking cessation services in 2005-06 will be ring-fenced specifically for tailored cessation services for pregnant women.

Rhona Brankin: The Ministerial Working Group on Tobacco Control considered the allocation of the additional £4 million for the provision of smoking cessation services in 2005-06. The group noted that if funding was allocated on a pro-rata basis 4.3% would be allocated to services for pregnant women. It considered that ring fencing the funding in this way to be too prescriptive and that health boards should be allowed to identify and respond to local needs of the priority groups, such as pregnant women, identified in the Smoking Kills White Paper.

Wind Farms

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that there is a consistent approach to the assessment of wind farm applications.

Johann Lamont: National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG) 6: Renewable Energy Developments  sets out the factors which planning authorities should take into account when preparing development plans and when determining planning applications. The policies in NPPG 6 also apply to proposals under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. NPPG 6 is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 18113).

  Following are statistics on parliamentary questions and answers for the period from 01/12/2004 to 31/12/2004

  

 
Scottish Executive
Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body
Total


Total questions asked
475
2
477


Total questions answered
646
7
653



  

Total non-recess questions answered (breakdown)


Answered within:
Scottish Executive
Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body


0-10 days
493
3


11-20 days
103
0


21-30 days
19
0


31-40 days
6
0


40+ days
4
4


Total answered
625
7



  

Total recess questions answered (breakdown)


Answered within:
Scottish Executive
Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body


0-20 days
6
0


21-30 days
2
0


31-40 days
6
0


40+ days
7
0


Total answered
21
0